Buy Korea
As he climbed into the car after leaving the restaurant, Kim Seong-ho spoke.
"Sorry for calling you in on your day off."
Looking exhausted, Jo Byeong-jin turned toward Seong-ho as he settled into the passenger seat and nodded.
"Fine. Just make sure you put a fat envelope of congratulatory cash when I get married."
"Don't worry. I'll take care of your wedding myself."
Seong-ho smiled at him.
"I've already told Gyeong-eun. When you get married, I want the entire banquet hall at the Ilhyeon Hotel cleared for you."
"The entire banquet hall? Why?"
"It's your wedding. Having other ceremonies right before and after yours would be a hassle—and who knows? It might rain on the outdoor ceremony and force you indoors."
"So you're saying the hotel won't take any other wedding business that day?"
"That's right. On your wedding day, it's only yours."
Byeong-jin's expression turned burdened. Being able to hold his wedding at the finest hotel in the country thanks to a friend was already more than he could thank him for—and now Seong-ho wanted the entire schedule, indoor and outdoor, cleared so that only his ceremony would run. It felt like too much.
Seong-ho read the look on his face at once.
"It's not just anyone's wedding—it's yours. After everything you've done for me, I ought to repay you properly."
"Still… isn't it a bit excessive?"
"Excessive?"
Seong-ho shook his head with a firm look.
"I could do even more for you."
"Come on…"
Byeong-jin felt both grateful and uneasy that Seong-ho would go so far for him. Coming in on a weekend wasn't free labor—he was paid overtime—and the reward for it already seemed far too large.
Seong-ho's thinking was different.
On the day I died, you were the one at my side. For you, I could do even more than this.
These were the two friends who had stayed with him until the very end of his previous life. Seong-ho had never forgotten that gratitude, and nothing he did for Byeong-jin felt like a waste.
"So just make sure you tell your wife-to-be."
"You don't have to worry about that. She's the one pushing me out the door—says I should stop fretting and focus on work."
Seong-ho laughed, clapped him once on the shoulder, and held out a document envelope.
"So you really signed a contract with Chairman Jang? A buyback in three years at twenty percent of the current price?"
"I did."
"About this… is it really all right?"
"Is what all right?"
Byeong-jin looked down at the envelope for a moment.
"If you're going this far, wouldn't it be better to just cut Chairman Dan and Chairman Jang out entirely and take the whole rights offering yourself? Why hand them twenty percent interest? Even if the stock price drops, you're still buying it back at a fixed twenty percent premium—that's expensive. You'd be better off putting up all the money and taking the whole offering. There's no reason to bring these people in."
"If I say I'll fund the entire rights offering myself, do you think the Chairman would allow it?"
At Seong-ho's question, Byeong-jin looked up from the envelope.
"He already approved Chairman Dan and Chairman Jang coming in—but he wouldn't approve cutting those two out so you could come in alone?"
"Of course not. Those are two completely different stories."
Byeong-jin still looked unconvinced. Seong-ho pulled his seatbelt across and locked it.
"If I put up all the money, the Chairman will think I'm trying to take Ilhyeon Securities for myself."
"So taking Ilhyeon Securities for yourself is off-limits—but Chairman Dan and Chairman Jang coming in is fine?"
"Look. He already approved it."
Seong-ho flicked the envelope with a finger and smiled at Byeong-jin.
"You're right. He did approve this."
Byeong-jin glanced at the envelope again, then tucked it into the driver's door pocket. He adjusted his seatbelt and started the car.
As they pulled out of the parking garage, Seong-ho watched the scenery through the window.
"The Chairman can live with Chairman Dan and Chairman Jang playing games with Ilhyeon Securities. If it comes to it, he can cut them loose."
"Cut them loose?"
Byeong-jin glanced over from the wheel.
"It means discarding Ilhyeon Securities."
"Discarding Ilhyeon Securities? The Chairman would?"
Byeong-jin gripped the wheel tighter and waited.
Seong-ho rested an arm against the window, perfectly at ease.
"If Chairman Dan and Chairman Jang start making trouble, he'll throw Ilhyeon Securities away just to hurt them. But if I step forward to take the entire rights offering myself, the picture changes."
"Because he thinks he can't discard you?"
"No."
Seong-ho turned toward the driver's seat. The corner of his mouth lifted into a smile.
"Because ideas start filling the Chairman's head—ideas that there might be something inside Ilhyeon Securities, something inside the stock market, that if the market swings he might make money off it. Those thoughts would take root."
"So what you're saying is, you brought Chairman Dan and Chairman Jang in so the Chairman wouldn't start thinking those things."
"Exactly. For the time being, Ilhyeon Securities needs to stay a dangerous company—one with little chance of survival. A company he can clean up whenever he feels like it."
"If some other firm had come in, he might hesitate. But with Chairman Jang and Chairman Dan, he won't lose any sleep burying Ilhyeon Securities along with the two of them."
"Right. A pair of loan sharks he has no affection for—burying them together wouldn't leave him with any guilt."
Byeong-jin could only marvel that Seong-ho had calculated even that far when he brought the two men in. If that was the reason, twenty percent interest over three years was a price worth paying.
"All right. Preparations are done—time to begin."
Byeong-jin nodded.
"Got it. I'll start right away."
Before drawing Chairman Dan and Chairman Jang in, Seong-ho had already laid all of this out for Byeong-jin in advance.
In the car, racing along roads as empty as a weekend afternoon, Seong-ho looked out the window and felt as if the road ahead of Ilhyeon Securities stretched open just as wide.
Ilhyeon Securities' rights offering was confirmed.
As announced, the third-party allotment would be taken up by a consortium led by Future Asset—the disclosure made it public.
The total rights offering came to six hundred billion won. Ilhyeon Securities stated it would use the fresh capital to escape capital impairment and invest in new businesses.
The market reacted at once.
"This makes three straight days at the upper limit."
Seong-ho nodded at his secretary's report. He studied his reflection in the mirror.
"Has Public Relations prepared everything as instructed?"
"Yes. We've told them to provide today's announcement to every newspaper."
"Make sure they understand it has to go out simultaneously."
"Yes, sir."
Seong-ho stopped looking in the mirror and repeated the instruction, underscoring how critical the timing was.
"President. Everything's ready."
Jo Byeong-jin came into the waiting room to report that all preparations were complete. Seong-ho nodded and turned. Byeong-jin spoke into his radio.
"The President is ready. Tell the emcee to begin the introduction."
The emcee's voice rose outside.
"Next, a few words from our newly appointed President. Will all Ilhyeon Securities executives and employees please rise and welcome President Kim Seong-ho with a warm round of applause."
A great wave of clapping filled the hall. Byeong-jin walked out first; Seong-ho followed him up onto the stage.
Clap, clap, clap, clap.
Receiving the thunderous applause, Seong-ho gave a brief bow toward the assembled staff of Ilhyeon Securities and stepped to the microphone. He nodded to the emcee.
"The President will now speak. Will all executives and employees please take your seats and give him your full attention."
At the emcee's cue, the staff who had been on their feet applauding sat down.
They had chartered buses and summoned every branch employee scattered across the country—three thousand people in all—to Seoul. Before those three thousand employees of Ilhyeon Securities, Seong-ho began.
"Good afternoon. I am Kim Seong-ho. It has already been three months since I took office as President of Ilhyeon Securities, and only now am I greeting you in person."
He bowed lightly.
Clap, clap, clap, clap.
The staff answered his greeting with applause. Seong-ho waited for it to settle, then brought his mouth back to the microphone.
"I have gathered every executive and employee from every corner of the country today for one reason: to declare Ilhyeon Securities' new plan before you all."
The staff fixed wide, intent eyes on him. Everyone wanted to know what this new plan was.
"Not long ago, Ilhyeon Securities carried out a rights offering. With six hundred billion won in fresh capital, we have escaped the danger of capital impairment—and we have been given a new engine for growth. Today, in this place, I intend to announce that new engine."
Seong-ho pointed behind him. The prepared curtain dropped away.
"That," Seong-ho said, "will be our engine for growth."
The employees of Ilhyeon Securities stared at him in blank confusion. How a slogan that said "Buy Korea" was supposed to become a growth engine, none of them understood.
As if he had expected exactly that reaction, Seong-ho began to explain through the microphone.
"For a Republic of Korea that has lived through a foreign-exchange crisis to rise again, its companies must rise. We must foster new industries and set this fallen country back on its feet. That is the meaning of the slogan—to save companies and save industry."
He finished and pointed at the banner that read BUY KOREA.
"With a hundred-trillion-won fund, we can support a hundred companies with a hundred billion won each. Companies that receive that support can create a million jobs. Investing in the fund means saving Korea—and, in the end, saving yourself."
He lowered his hand and leaned close to the microphone.
"You are members of the Ilhyeon Group—Korea's finest, a world-class conglomerate. Work like people who belong to Ilhyeon. I will take the lead. And with that same spirit, show your clients a way to save this country."
At his words, a heat rose in the chests of the Ilhyeon Securities staff. Something like a flame returned to pride that had been collapsing for a long time.
As the market crashed and the public fled the stock exchange, their self-respect had gone with it. The composite index that had once broken a thousand had fallen into the two hundreds. Colleagues across the industry had packed their bags and left; they themselves had been trapped in capital impairment, fretting over when their own turn would come.
So until they gathered in the gymnasium today, many of them had expected an announcement of restructuring. Kim Seong-ho had earned a reputation as a master of restructuring—after raising capital, the natural next step seemed to be a purge.
Seong-ho overturned every expectation.
"Just as America grew its nation through the venture boom of the 1980s, our country too must use venture companies to escape this hardship and advance into a new Korea. And the capital for that venture boom will come from the Buy Korea Fund. The Buy Korea Fund—that is the product you will begin selling tomorrow."
The moment he finished, staff from the secretariat and public relations began handing booklets through the crowd. Seong-ho looked down at the employees who took them with dazed faces.
"The age of banks is ending. Companies will turn to the stock market to raise capital, and our Buy Korea Fund will show them the way by investing in ventures. And you will be the ones who do that work."
He looked out over the three thousand Ilhyeon Securities employees who held their booklets and fixed burning eyes on him, and he closed.
"I will stand at the front. Carry the pride of being Ilhyeon's people—and open a new era with me."
Waaaah!!
Clap, clap, clap, clap.
Cheers and applause erupted—not the dutiful noise the emcee had summoned earlier, but something that came from the heart. Seong-ho raised a hand in answer. The staff clapped harder still; some rose to their feet. The standing ovation spread until every executive and employee in the hall was on their feet.
The applause continued until Seong-ho bowed, left the stage, and disappeared back into the waiting room.
There, still feeling the heat of that ovation, he gave his secretary an order.
"Start with the commercials that run before the three networks' evening news tonight."
"Yes, sir."
Seong-ho issued the instruction and, for a moment longer, let the unbroken roar of cheers wash over him.